Opinion
2007-1413 K C.
Decided December 31, 2008.
Appeal from an order of the Civil Court of the City of New York, Kings County (Kenneth P. Sherman, J.), entered July 12, 2007. The order, insofar as appealed from, granted plaintiff's motion to vacate an order granting, on plaintiff's default, a motion by defendant for summary judgment, and, upon such vacatur, denied defendant's motion for summary judgment.
Order, insofar as appealed from, reversed without costs and so much of plaintiff's motion as sought to vacate the order granting defendant's motion for summary judgment and, upon such vacatur, to deny defendant's motion for summary judgment denied.
PRESENT: PESCE, P.J., GOLIA and RIOS, JJ.
In this action by a provider to recover assigned first-party no-fault benefits, the court below granted defendant's motion for summary judgment on default. Thereafter, plaintiff moved, inter alia, to vacate the order entered upon its default and, upon such vacatur, to deny defendant's motion for summary judgment. Plaintiff's counsel alleged in the moving papers that the default was due to law office failure. By order entered July 7, 2007, the Civil Court, insofar as relevant to this appeal, granted plaintiff's motion to vacate the order entered upon its default and, upon such vacatur, denied defendant's motion for summary judgment.
To be relieved of its default, plaintiff was required to demonstrate both a reasonable excuse for the default and a meritorious cause of action ( see CPLR 5015 [a] [1]; Eugene Di Lorenzo, Inc. v A.C. Dutton Lbr. Co., 67 NY2d 138). The conclusory, undetailed and uncorroborated claim of law office failure did not amount to a reasonable excuse ( see Nurse v Figeroux Assoc., 47 AD3d 778). Plaintiff's counsel offered no explanation in the motion papers as to why he failed to submit written opposition to the motion or appear on the adjourned date of the motion. Accordingly, the order, insofar as appealed from, is reversed and so much of plaintiff's motion as sought to vacate the order entered upon its default and, upon such vacatur, to deny defendant's motion for summary judgment is denied.
In view of the foregoing, we pass upon no other issue.
Pesce, P.J., Golia and Rios, JJ., concur.